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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. H. DAYTON. MACHINE FOR POLISHING NEEDLE POINTS No. 449,313. Patented Mar. 31,1891.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shet 2.

W. H. DAYTON. MACHINE FOR POLISHING NEEDLE POINTS. No. 449,313. Patented Mar. 31,1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT Unmet.

VILLIAM H. DAYTON, OF "ORRINGTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE EXCELSIOR NEEDLE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR POLISHING NEEDLE-POINTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,313, dated March 31, 1891.

Application filed July 25, 1890- Serial No. 359,917. (No model.)

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. DAYTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Torrington, in the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, have invented an Improvementin Machines forPolishing Needle-Points, of which the following is a specification.

Sewing-machine needles are usually man ufactured with a shank that is of larger diam- IO eter than the needle itself, and after the needles have been reduced to the proper size from the wire that corresponds indiameter to the shank the blank is cut off at the proper length and the point sharpened by grinding,

i5 and during this grinding operation the point is sometimes made as a straight taper, and in other instances the point is ground more or less elliptical in section, and in order to more perfectly adapt the point of the needle to the uses to which it is to be put such point is polished by the action of a fine emery-band, such band being drawn from the body of the needle toward and away from the point in order to polish the metal toward the point it- 2 5 self. The present improvements are for performing the polishing operation last above mentioned, and in this machine the polishingbelt is adapted to being adjusted. in its position so as to polish the entire point of the needle without injury or varying materially the shape previously given to the point in the grinding operation, and this machine, while primarily intended for the polishing of needle-points, might also be used for grinding said points if the emery-belt was made with emery of theiproper quality for performing the grinding operation.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical section near the line a; a; of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a partial elevation of the machine at one side thereof. Fig. 4: represents the gearing for connecting the feeding-screws. Fig. 5 is a partial plan. in larger size, of the feeding-screws at the en- 5 trance end, and Fig. 6 is a section representing the feeding-screws and a needle-blank in position upon them.

The bed of the machine is of suitable size and shape, usually rectangular, as shown at A, and upon this bed are slideways 2, supporting the base B, that carries the journal box or hearing 3, through which passes the shaft C, having upon it a driving-pulley D, and one end of said shaft 0 projects and is provided with a pulley E for the emery-belt F, and there is a screw 4, passing through a lug upon the base B and into the bed A, for moving such base B and the bearings 3 and shaft C for tightening the emery-belt F, as required from time to time. The emery-belt F passes around a small roller G, which. comes above the needle-blank 1', which needle-blank is presented to the action of the emery-belt in a manner hereinafter described, and there is a second roller H, which bears upon the 6; emery-belt F, and according to the relative positions of these rollers G and H, so the em" cry-belt E where it passes from one roller to the other will be at a greater or less angle to the needle-blank t to adapt thev belt to the shape of the point, and upon reference to Fig. 2 it will be seen that the point of the needle is exposed to the action of this emerybelt F between the rollers G and II.

There is a compound lever K for carrying the rollers G and H, and this lever K is pivoted at 5 upon the stand K, that is adj ust ably connected to the bed A by the clamp ing-screw 6, and this compound lever K is made in two parts, the portion 7 being in the form of an arm extending out from the pivot 5, and the portion 8 forms the second joint of the arm, and it is pivoted at 9, so that the second joint of the arm can be swung upon the pivot 9 into any desired position in relation to the first joint 7 of the arm, and there is a wheel I, rigidly fixed to the outer end of the pivot-pin 9, and there are lugs 10 on the arm 8, with a screw-pinion 11 between such lugs and in gear with the wheel I, so that by 0 rotating this screw-pinion 11 by a suitable key or wrench the angle of the second joint 8 of the compound lever to the first joint 7 of said lever can be changed, and in so doing the positions of the rollers G and H to the 5 pivot 5 will be varied and the axes ofsaid rollers brought more nearly into a plane passing through the pivot 5 or at a greater angle to such plane, thereby varying the angle of that portion of the emery-belt F which bears [00 against the points of the needles, and I make use of an adj ustingscrew 12, passing through a'lug upon the arm 8 and resting upon the bed A or upon a stud rising from said bed, so as to raise or lower the outer end of the compound lever K and regulate the pressure of the emery-belt upon the needle-points. It will be understood that by the screw 4 the emery-belt can be tightened or slackened by moving the base 13, and when access is required to the needle-blanks the compound lever K can be swung up and with it the. rollers G and H and emery-belt F, and in so doing the belt E is slackened, and it can be raised, as aforesaid, without necessarilystopping the rotation of the shaft G, and the belt can be taken off and another one substituted whenever necessary.

In machines for polishing needles there has been a stationary rest, upon which the shanks or needles lie during the polishing or grinding operation, and also a belt moving above such needles and pressed into contact therewith, so as to rotate the needles upon the rest as such needles are rolled along by the belt. Devices of this character are used in my machine. The rest L for the needle-blank is formed as a rail or ledge resting upon the bed A, and the endless belt N is directly over the rest, the needle-blanks i being between the belt and the rest, and the endless belt N passes around wheels 0 O, the shafts of which are supported by the stocks P, said stocks having base-pieces resting upon the edge of the bed A and attached thereto by screws 13, passing through the slots in the bases of the stocks and into the bed, and there is a horizontal screw 14, acting in one of the adjustable stocks for moving the same horizontally and tightening the belt N.

The endless belt Nand the belt-wheels O 0 require to be moved with'great regularity, so as to roll the needle-blanks along upon the rest L. With this object in viewI make use of wheels M upon the arbors 15 of the beltwheels 0 O, and these wheels M are acted upon by screw-pinions Q upon the horizontal shaft R, that passes through the adjustable stocks P, and the shaft Ris rotated byabandpulley S. These wheels H and screw-pinions Q are within boxes or housings upon the adjustable stocks P, and there is a removable cap P to each of the boxes or housings upon the adjustable stocks to give access to the respective parts for oiling. These housings prevent dust adhering to the wheels and screw-pinions. The endless belt N passes beneath a trough-shaped strip of 'metal 5, and there are springs t fastened upon a bar it and bearing upon the troughs with the force requisite for pressing the belt N upon the shanks of the needle-blank t' as such blanks are rolled along upon the ledge or rest L by the same purpose and combine with them the feeding device hereinafter described. The screw '1 receives into its groove the backends of the needle-blank shanks, and the bodies of the screws rest in the groove of the feed screw U, and it is preferable to make these screws right and left handed, as shown, and to rotate the screw U in the direction indicated by the arrows, so as to force the back ends of the needle -blanks into the screwthreads of the screw T, and to rotate this screw T in the direction indicated, so that the friction may tend to press the needleblanks down upon the rest L rather than to lift-them, and the driving-pulley 16 is usually placed upon the end of the screw T, and there are small driving-wheels orpinions 17, 18, 19, 20 for connecting the screw U to the screw T, and the pinions 19 and 20 are upon studs or gudgeons projecting from an adjustable plate R, as seen in Fig. 4, upon the back edge of the bed A. r

At the supply end of the machine there is a small table V, upon which the needle-blanks are laid, and there is a supply-screw V parallel with the screws T and U and in line with the rest L, and the bottoms of the screwthreads are upon the level, or nearly so, of the feed-table V and the top of the rest L, and this supply-screw W is driven by the gears 21 and 22 from the screw T, and this supplyscrew is made with a screw-thread varying in its pitch-that is to say, the outer portion of such supply-screw \V has about ten threads to the inch, and the inner portion adjacent to the end of the rest L has about eight threads to the inch, or it has the same number of threads to the inch that there are in the screws T and U, the object of this construction being to allow the workmen to fill the screwthreads of the supply-screw XV with the needle-blanks, the back ends of the needle-blanks resting against the gage of fence -43, and this screw V, running in unison with the screws T and U, passes the needle-blanks along progressively and regularly, so that they are in the proper position and arereceived by the grooves of the respective screws T and U, and such needle-blanks pass along out of the supply-screw W and upon the rest L with precision; but the needle-blanks can be laid almost closely together in the portions of the supply-screw 7 that are contiguous to the table V. Hence the attendant can discern reliably that such supply-screw is kept full of needle-blanks and the proper supply thereby insured. It will now be understood that as the needles are passed along throughthe machine by the combined operations of the feedingscrews T and U they are simultaneously rotated by the endless belt N, rolling such needle-blanks upon the rest L, and during this operation the points are polished by coming into contact with the revolving emerybelt F, and the needle is delivered in any suitable manner. Usually it runs off the end lIO of the rest L, so as to fall shank downwardly through an opening in the bed and into a convcying-spout.

In some instances 1 make use of a rotary wiper or brush 25, which may be made of soft leather, upon a shaft 26, supported by a head 27, that can be raised or lowered by the screw 28, and this brush or wiper removes from the points of the needles any metallic particles which may adhere to the surface; butl this brush or wiper may be dispensed Wit 1.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with the emery-belt and the driving-pulley E for the same, of the two rolls G and H, around which the belt passes, the compound lever K, pivoted at 5 and supporting the rolls G and H, means for adjusting the angle of the second joint or arm of the lever to the first, and means, substantially as specified, for supporting and rotating the needle-blanks while being acted upon by the emery-belt, substantially as set forth.

2. The compound lever K, having arms 7 and S, in combination with the wheel I upon the joint 9, the screw-pinion 11 and its supporting-lugs for varying the position of the second joint to the first arm of the compound lever, the emery-belt F, the driving-pulley D,

The combination, with the emery-belt,

the driving-pulley, the compound lever, and the belt-rolls supported by the same, of the endless belt N, belt-wheel, adjustable stocks, driving-shaft, and screw-pinions and Wheels for giving motion to the endless belt, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the feed-screws T and U, of the table V, a supply-screw W, and the rest L for the needles at the end of the supply-screw, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. The combination,with the feed-screws T and U, the table V, and supply-screw V, of the rest L for the needles at the end of the supply-screw W, the endless belt N above the rest for the needle-blanks, the Wheels and mechanism for driving the endless belt, a trough and springs for pressing the endless belt upon the needle-blanks, and an emerybelt and its driving pulley and rolls for acting upon the points of the needle-blanks, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 17th day of July, 1890.

\VILLIAM II. DAYTON,

Witnesses:

JOHN W. BRooKs, CHAS. L. MONEIL. 

